clamp
/ˈklæmp/
"clamp" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“clamp” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #15,985 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #15,985
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A brace, band, or clasp for strengthening or holding things that are apart together.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | clamp |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈklæmp/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #15,985 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “clamp” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for clamp is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈklæmp/. Corpus data places it at rank #15,985 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 7 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for clamp, with forms such as "calmp", "cclamp", and "clammp". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "CLP", "crap", "clay", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle Dutch clamp, klampe (“a clamp, hook”), from Proto-Germanic *klampō (“clamp, clasp, cramp”), related to Proto-West Germanic *klammjan. Cognate with Middle Low German klampe (“hook, clasp”), German Klampfe, Klampe (“clamp, cleat”), Norwegian klamp… The correct English form is clamp, spelled C-L-A-M-P.
Definition
- 1A brace, band, or clasp for strengthening or holding things that are apart together.
- 2An instrument used to temporarily shut off blood vessels, etc.
- 3A parking enforcement device used to immobilise a car until it can be towed or a fine is paid; a wheel clamp.
- 4A pile of materials to be heated in a controlled way, stacked or heaped together with fuel so that the fire permeates the pile; the material of interest may be bricks to be fired, ore for roasting, coal for coking, or wood to be charcoalized.
- 5A compact pile of agricultural produce (such as root vegetables or silage) used for temporary storage (often covered with straw, earth, or both).
- 6A piece of wood (batten) across the grain of a board end to keep it flat, as in a breadboard.
- 7An electronic circuit that fixes either the positive or the negative peak excursions of a signal to a defined value by shifting its DC value.
Etymology
From Middle Dutch clamp, klampe (“a clamp, hook”), from Proto-Germanic *klampō (“clamp, clasp, cramp”), related to Proto-West Germanic *klammjan. Cognate with Middle Low German klampe (“hook, clasp”), German Klampfe, Klampe (“clamp, cleat”), Norwegian klamp (“clamp”), Alemannic German Chlempi.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: calmp,cclamp,clammp,clampp,clapm,cllamp,clmap,lcamp
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of clamp - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “clamp”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-L-A-M-P - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈklæmp/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “CLP” - see the side-by-side comparison. clamp vs CLP
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.